Death Note Drama: Episode 10 Review

In the penultimate episode of Death Note drama, Light’s Dad – the dedicated policeman described by L himself, whom he also considered like a father wrote his name in the Death Note and died. Light who has metamorphosed into the evil Kira has shown he had no soul and found his father’s death as nothing but a sacrifice to become the God he envisioned himself and ruled the world and changed it.

4 stars out of 5

Melo, the psychopath, has won the struggle and finally buried Near into the abyss of his very own being. He abhors L and says so – that L could have been more ruthless, more objective in pursuing Kira and should never have considered “personal” feelings in the pursuit of justice. But is Mello the true successor to L and is he the one who can finally bring Kira to justice?

For those who have been critical about the “regular” Light Yagami – characterized as being unmanly, without drive or intensity – the final scene where he walks out of the hospital is as chilling and frightening as it is a perfect depiction of pure evil. The Light Yagami portrayed by Tatsuya Fujiwara is ambitious, charismatic and a determined individual but already corrupted – thus his failure to truly convince the audience of his transition from a crusader of justice to just a plain, stupid murderer.

Masataka Kubota’s calculated transition from a bullied, self-doubting individual to a confident, arrogant pretender cannot be more convincing if done by someone else. Like a sex maniac about to ravage a helpless victim, Kubota’s crazed look is simply hard to forget. I’d be shocked if he is not nominated for Best Actor come TV Drama Awards. Yes, I know I have been critical of his over-the-top acting, but he “mellowed” somewhat in this episode, as if he is aware that people find him to be over-acting! (Of course, that’s wishful thinking on my part!).

Anyway, the video clip where L appeared to explain certain “things” to Light’s Dad holds the key to what may happen in the final Episode.

At this point, I’ll have to say – notwithstanding my loyalty to Kenichi Matsuyama’s L (which is my primary reason for liking the movies) – Death Note Drama has already surpassed all my expectations.